To the editor:

Your editorial page daily trumpets a fine-sounding code of conduct. But publication of the Sunday, Feb. 24, Associated Press article about Barack and Michele Obama indicates you don’t always “stand for accurate and fair news reporting” and “no mixing of editorial opinion with reporting of the news.”

The article headline, “Patriotism of Obama, wife called into question,” misleads the reader by peddling rumor as fact. No one in his right mind questions the patriotism – defined as love of country and service in its behalf – of a United States senator seeking the presidency on behalf of the oldest political party in the free world. Three or four extremists whispering about Sen. Obama does not even rise to the level of a news article, let along meet your goal of “accurate and fair reporting.”

The article quotes mischievous muckrakers at length as they try to “swift boat” Sen. Obama. Their partisan mission is to defeat a Democratic presidential nominee by telling lies. If that’s not “mixing editorial opinion with reporting of the news,” then you have invented a new definition of “news” and “editorial opinion.”

You must have known this article ignored your conduct code; its headline didn’t even identify who “called into question” Sen. Obama’s patriotism. The passive voice keeps the reader wondering if maybe your newspaper agrees with this scurrilous charge.

Since I assume you don’t, then I expect no further articles about this topic.

Karl Brooks,

Lawrence